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What does cage-free mean?

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The term may bring to mind happy chickens roaming free in a rolling 
green field, their lush feathers glistening in the ample sunlight.

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Well, here comes a vegan to rain on your chicken paradise parade...

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(It's me...I'm the vegan...)

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(music, bird song, animal noises and the soft buzzing of bees)

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Hi, it's Emily from BiteSizeVegan.org, where you can 
find free resources, eCourses, kids' content,

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and a Guided Search to help you find just what 
you need, even if you don't know what to ask!

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Speaking of eCourses, this video has one of its very own, 
so you can test your knowledge after watching!

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For those of you watching this on BiteSizeVegan.org
—first of all, you're awesome

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—just click the "take the eCourse now" button.

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For those of you watching elsewhere, just head over to
BiteSizeVegan.org/CageFree

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where you will also find all of the sources for this video

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(and there are a lot... Cause I'm a nerd)

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Before diving into the meaning of cage-free eggs, it's important to acknowledge

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that the vast majority of the world's almost 8 billion
layer hens are still kept in battery cages

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—one of the most intensive forms of confinement in the animal products industry.

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Crammed together in these small, barren cages, each
individual hen is afforded less space than a single sheet of paper

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—unable to extend their wings or even stand fully upright.

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Denied the ability to engage in natural behaviors such as
foraging, wing-flapping, perching, dust bathing, and nesting,

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hens in battery cages experience extreme distress—

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manifesting in neurotic behavior, feather loss, aggression, and even cannibalism.

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These hens live in constant pain,

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often suffering from osteoporosis due to the combination of nutrient loss
from high egg production and a severe lack of movement.

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Rising public concern over the last four decades regarding the horrific conditions
of battery cages has led to increasing demands for alternative systems.

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Now, a total ban on battery cages sounds like a 
huge move in the right direction, right?

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Well, In 1999, The Council of the European Union set a directive 
that banned all “barren battery cages” by 2012.

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While media coverage at the time focused on the end of battery cages in the EU,

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what the directive actually did was replace barren battery cages with 
“enriched"—meaning furnished—battery cages.

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Yes, hens would now be provided more space and given 
furnishings like perches and laying nests

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—certainly an improvement over barren cages.

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However, while reports extolled that hens would now each be afforded 750cm²,
rather than the 550 cm² in conventional battery cages,

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they neglected to clarify that—due to the new furnishings
—only 600cm² would be usable.

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Meaning—in the end—that this revolutionary
step forward for the rights of laying hens

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granted them less than a single playing card
of additional space.

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Even more maddening: in 2012, over twelve years after the directive, 
thirteen Member States had still failed to comply with the ban.

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The 1999 Council Directive addressed more than an eventual end 
to barren battery cages in favor of enriched cages

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—it also introduced a third category, termed "alternative systems."

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This umbrella term covered various non-cage systems, such as aviaries 
and barns—including what we commonly refer to as "cage-free eggs."

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So, what, exactly, does cage-free mean?

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In the simplest terms, cage-free means exactly what it sounds like: 
laying hens are never caged. But the simplicity ends there.

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As the term "cage-free" primarily defines how hens are not to be housed, 
the actual conditions under which cage-free hens are housed varies greatly;

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standards are largely unspecified, unverified and unregulated.

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In the U.S., the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) 
only specifies that cage-free eggs

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"must be produced by hens housed in a building, room or enclosure 
that allows for unlimited access to food and water

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and provides the freedom to roam the area during the laying cycle."

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Cage-free eggs graded by the USDA are subject to on-site inspections
twice a year, purely to ensure the hens are not in cages.

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Additionally, not all cage-free eggs are graded by the USDA,

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so many cage-free labels do not have any verification 
at all that the hens they came from were not caged.

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In the European Union, while the term "cage-free"
doesn't seem to be widely used,

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non-cage systems are required to "not exceed 
9 laying hens per m² usable area."

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This affords each hen a little over a square foot of space.

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There are no such stocking density limits in the United States, among other countries.

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The separation between cage and non-cage farming is often completely non-existent:

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many egg producers have both caged and cage-free facilities on the same property.

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Purchasing cage-free eggs is in no way supporting smaller, independent farmers.

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That said, there is no denying that almost anything would be
an improvement over life in a battery cage.

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However, as we've learned with "enriched" cages, alternative systems 
aren't the idyllic environments we may envision.

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Cage-free hens are kept indoors, usually in windowless buildings. 
Each structure may contain thousands to tens of thousands of birds.

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This extreme overcrowding leaves some cage-free hens without much more room than battery cages, resulting in many of the same mental and physical consequences.

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Additionally, cage-free hens are not spared the cruel 
"standard practices" of the egg industry as a whole.

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All hens are sourced from hatcheries where male chicks are killed upon hatching.

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The primary method recommended by the European Union's humane 
regulations, and implemented worldwide, is "maceration"

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—a euphemistic term for dropping newborn male chicks 
into a meat grinder while alive.

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It's estimated that 3.2 billion male chicks are killed every year.

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Cage-free hens are still subjected to debeaking —a painful mutilation 
in which a portion of their sensitive beaks are cut or burned off.

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In the few countries where debeaking is banned, hens face increased mortality rates from aggressive pecking brought on by crowded and stressful living conditions.

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The living beings within all animal product industries
are viewed as just that—products.

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Laying hens are no different—everything from their environment to their 
very genetics are engineered for maximum egg output.

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Artificial lighting is used to constantly manipulate hens' 
hormones in order to increase their egg production.

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One of the most cruel practices within the
egg industry is what's referred to as "induced molting."

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Farmers remove the hens’ food for weeks, literally starving them.

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The hens lose up to 35% of their body weight, along
with their feathers, allowing their reproductive tracts to “refresh”

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so they can pump out another round of eggs.

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They are also subjected to more extreme forms of light manipulation,
at times enduring a week of constant light.

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There is nothing within the cage-free label that prohibits this barbaric practice.

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While forced molting is banned in some countries,
this simply means the hens are slaughtered after they are no longer profitable

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—a fate which awaits every layer hen.

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No matter the label, housing conditions or country, all 
layer hens are killed when their egg production declines

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—typically when they are 70-80 weeks old. No longer able to turn a profit, 
they are sent to their deaths—still mere babies themselves.

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In caged systems, hens can be more effectively separated from their waste.

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In cage-free systems, the ammonia from their waste can cause 
dangerous conditions for the hens, workers, and the public.

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A study looking into the sources of particulate pollution found the 
poultry industry to be the greatest single contributor.

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The ammonia in poultry litter "combines with other pollutants—
sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide...to produce a secondary source of 
additional deadly [fine particulate matter]."

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that this
kind of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5)

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"is responsible for over 90% of air pollution-related health damages."

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A large-scale study by the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply 
(CSES) research project

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found the mortality rate (meaning death rate) in non-cage
systems to be 2.5 times higher than in battery cage systems.

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This finding was far from isolated to one study or country.

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The primary causes of increased mortality in non-cage systems include: 
injurious pecking, cannibalism, and disease transference.

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These very issues are a large part of why battery cages were invented in the first place

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—confining hens in cages makes it much easier to manage behavioral 
issues and disease outbreaks.

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Pointing to the housing system as the reason for more deaths, is an 
oversimplification of what is a very complex issue.

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A meta-analysis of data from 29 sources covering commercial farms in 16 countries

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indicates a possible decline in mortality rates within
non-cage systems in more recent years.

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The authors argue that this decline will continue as producers become 
more familiar with managing non-cage systems,

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and as more "appropriate" hen breeds are created and utilized.

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They also emphasize are created and utilized. the importance of debeaking 
hens to reduce injurious and cannibalistic behavior.

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At first glance, this decline in mortality rates in non-cage systems 
may sound like a promising trend.

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Yet, rather than pointing to reasons for hope, the proposed causes of the decline actually highlight a stark reality:

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within the animal products industries, the solutions are the problems.

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When hens injure and kill one another due to their breeding and living conditions

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—both of which have been imposed upon them—

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the solution is to cut off their beaks and alter their breeding.

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Ian J.H. Duncan, Professor Emeritus and Emeritus Chair in Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph, Canada, illustrates this predicament, saying:

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"If [producers] do not trim beaks, then feather
pecking and cannibalism may cause enormous suffering.

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If they do trim beaks by conventional methods, 
the birds will suffer from acute and chronic pain...

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Chopping off parts of young animals in order to prevent future 
welfare problems is a very crude solution."

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Duncan proposes instead that, given 
"feather pecking has hereditary characteristics....

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It therefore seems likely that the long-term
solution to this problem will be a genetic one..."

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While certainly less objectionable than debeaking on a visceral level,

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genetic manipulation of sentient beings to serve our purposes is not only extremely ethically problematic, but 
—once again—what got us into this position in the first place.

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The animal products industries have honed these beings at a 
genetic level to meet specific demands and performance.

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Laying hens have traditionally been bred for producing 
as many eggs as possible in a caged environment.

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Place them into a cage-free environment and mortality skyrockets.

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So, the solution to the problems inadvertently created by genetic 
manipulation is to further manipulate their genes.

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Every time our breeding, confinement, mutilation and slaughter of non-human 
animals invariably cause ethical, environmental and health problems,

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we strive to solve them with different variations of breeding, 
confinement, mutilation and slaughter.

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We continue this cycle over and over again—addressing problems 
of our own creation with solutions that will eventually become our next problem

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—rather than stepping back and questioning our use of animals in the first place.

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Even if less hens die in one housing system
than another, is that truly any indicator of their quality of life?

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As the authors of the meta analysis themselves poignantly state:

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"Put simply, what makes animals suffer is not necessarily what kills them."

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There are mountains of research and governmental regulations 
you can read through regarding the welfare of laying hens around the world.

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What I've covered just touches the surface.

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But in the end, while I believe it's vital to know the truth behind humane 
claims, it's our use of animals in and of itself that's inhumane.

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No matter what label we give it.

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I hope this video has been helpful. 
Don't forget to take the free eCourse to test your knowledge!

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To stay in the loop about new Bite Size Vegan content
and updates, subscribe to the newsletter or

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follow the Telegram channel for the most reliable notifications.

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Now go live vegan, and I'll see you soon.